Review: Dear Amy by Helen Callaghan

Title: Dear Amy by Helen Callaghan

Author: Helen Callaghan

Publisher: Penguin UK, Michael Joseph

Pages: 348

Date of Publication: June 16th, 2016

Rating: 4/5

My Review:

This is a psychological thriller with young girls disappearing then clues being sent in letters to an agony aunt…

Margot Lewis is a secondary (high) school teacher who also writes the agony column, Dear Amy… , for the local newspaper. She regularly has letters asking for advice, but has never had one like this before. This one claims to have been written by someone who has been kidnapped and wants rescuing. It turns out that the signature on the letter is of someone that was kidnapped but initially Margot was the only person taking it seriously. As one of her pupils has recently disappeared in a similar fashion, Margot won’t let this drop. As she becomes more actively involved in the search for the missing girls she also becomes more in danger herself . . .

This was a brilliant beginning and I initially assumed it would lead on to Margot becoming the feisty lady detective who helps uncover and solve mysteries, which she sort of does, but not quite in the way I’d hoped! As the story unfolds, it gets much darker and you’re not quite sure who to trust any more. There are some different ideas in this story, some more plausible than others and additional one that just keep the reader endeavouring to decipher the clues to solve the case and rescue the missing teenager.

This is a well crafted, surprising debut novel and I enjoyed the writing style of the author, I’ll definitely look out for more from her in future though I sort of hope her next will be more akin to an Agatha Christie Miss Marple type of mystery!

Thanks to the author, publishers and NetGalley, too, for letting me read this in exchange for my honest review.

Synopsis:

FIRST CLASS PSYCHOLOGICAL SUSPENSE FROM A MAJOR NEW VOICE IN FICTION

Margot Lewis is the agony aunt for The Cambridge Examiner. Her advice column, Dear Amy, gets all kinds of letters – but none like the one she’s just received:

‘Dear Amy,

I don’t know where I am. I’ve been kidnapped and am being held prisoner by a strange man. I’m afraid he’ll kill me.

Please help me soon,

Bethan Avery’

Bethan Avery has been missing for years. This is surely some cruel hoax. But, as more letters arrive, they contain information that was never made public. How is this happening? Answering this question will cost Margot everything . . .

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